"I must confess that for
Elder Arsenios, the Gospel words, 'Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is
no guile!' are relevant. He was naturally straight-forward, simple, without
offence, meek, obedient; a rare struggler who possessed nothing. For Elder
Arsenios, his yes was always yes, and his no, no. He never harbored resentment,
no matter how he was wronged. He never got angry; he never hurt anyone. He
lived obedience with precision. That is why, through obedience and his
unwavering faith in his Elder, he lived in a way that surpassed the laws of
nature. During vigils, he began the night labouring excessively by kneeling
thousands of times and then remained standing until morning."
- Elder
Joseph of Vatopaidi
The ever-memorable Elder Arsenios was born in
1886 in Pontus. At a young age he became enflamed with divine zeal and walked
from Russia to the Queen of Cities (Constantinople) and from there boarded a
ship for the Holy Land. For about a decade he served in the Holy Sepulchre as
well as other shrines there.
While there, by divine providence, Arsenios
became acquainted with the well-known ascetic of Aegina, the blessed Elder
Ieronymos, from whom he learned his first lessons in the ascetical life.
Enflamed with divine love, his soul began to
thirst for a life away from the troubles of this world and he fled to Mount
Athos, the Garden of the Panagia. His first few years he spent at the Holy
Monastery of Stavronikita, where he also received his Great Schema and was
named Arsenios. He had been named Anatolios when he received his rason in
Jerusalem.
Since Stavronikita at that time operated under
an idiorhythmic system, Arsenios desired greater ascetic feats and thus
abandoned the monastic life and went into the "wilderness" of Mount
Athos in search of great ascetics from whom he could learn and imitate by
example to reach perfection.
The Lord, knowing his desire, did not take
long to grant Arsenios that which he desired. In his search he found another
young man with the same desire as himself. They met for the first time on the
very peak of Mount Athos. The power of the Holy Spirit brought these two
together as if by a magnetic force. And from that moment the two would not
leave each other's side. This other young man was the blessed neptic ascetic
famously known as Joseph the Hesychast, one of the greatest Saints of the 20th
century. At the time he was just a simple layman named Francisco Kottis.
The two young men then became like bees
gathering whatever good and beneficial thing they could from throughout the
wilderness of the Holy Mountain, in order to bear the most abundant fruits of
the Holy Spirit. They first met the famous Elder Daniel Katounakioti, then
Kallinikon the Hesychast, as well as Gerasimos and Ignatios, and whatever other
beautiful flowers had sprouted in the wilderness.
In one epistle, Elder Joseph the Hesychast
writes: "All the caves of Athos received me as a visitor, step by step...in
order to find a spiritual father to teach me heavenly contemplation and works (θεωρίαν και πράξιν)". High in the caves of Saint Peter they found their hearts desire,
the rose of the desert, Papa-Daniel the Hesychast. This great ascetic
Liturgized every night at midnight between 3-4 hours. This was because it was
filled with many interruptions due to the Elder's compunction and emotion
during the Liturgy, and it is said that the dirt on the ground would turn to
mud from his many tears. He had many spiritual gifts bestowed on him by the
grace of God, including that of clairvoyance. All his life he only ate dry
foods (ξηροφαγία) once a day at most. It is from this great ascetic that the young Joseph
and Arsenios learned the discipline of eating only dry things once a day and
the importance of being vigilant.
Elder Arsenios once confessed that for many
years he would do 3,000 prostrations every night, and the rest of the vigil he
would do standing. For many years, the two spiritual brothers had no bed on which
to rest from their very difficult labors. After a vigil that would last
throughout the night they would only rest their weary flesh on a small bench
while seated.
As for food, the two spiritual brothers would
only eat once a day dry foods, primarily dried bread which often was even
spoiled or infested with worms. On weekends, if they were able to find it, they
would eat whatever they could except meat, but still only once a day.
Besides these labors, Elder Arsenios worked
with his hands as well. In those initial years he lived high at Saint Basil's,
and it would take him everyday 1-2 hours to walk up and down the hill to
provide support not only for themselves, but for all the ascetics of the area.
Like Sysiphus, he would carry stones and whatever necessities for preservation
and the building of stone shelter and walls.
Because these feats were beyond human
strength, Elder Arsenios was once asked how he did all these things. The Elder
responded that he would always say the Prayer of the Heart and this would
lighten the burden and a higher power would come to his aid. With the Prayer on
his lips, the Elder confessed, the necessities he carried up the hill were a
light burden, even in the peak days of summer heat.
Reagrding attire, for many years the two
ascetics, whether it was winter or summer, dressed in rags and walked around
shoeless, to the point where many regarded them as "fools". But they
weren't fools in a worldly sense, but for Christ. For them, the words of the
Apostle rang true: "They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being
destitute, afflicted, tormented - of whom the world was not worthy. They
wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth" (Heb.
11:37, 38).
Because these two great ascetics lived
approximately for twenty years high in the Skete of Saint Basil, in 1938 they
decided to move to a lower area in the Skete of Saint Anna. They did this with
a small brotherhood who had gathered around them during this time. There they
stayed until 1953. After 1953 they moved to a still lower area to Nea Sketi.
The great ascetic Joseph the Hesychast fell asleep here in 1959.
After a number of years Elder Arsenios moved
from Nea Sketi and spent twelve years in a cell at Chilandari Monastery known
as Burazeri. The last three years of his life he lived in the Holy Monastery of
Dionysiou. Because this monastery is dedicated to the Holy Forerunner John the
Baptist, Elder Arsenios had him as his protector untill the end of his life. It
is here that he fell asleep in the Lord on September 15, 1983 at the age of 97.
May his memory be eternal and may we have his
blessing!
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